Peacharella
by AGP1990
Summary: The most altered fairy tale of all, Cinderella, presented in the Marioverse. Courtney Koopa, Vincent, and Kurt are original characters. As a fan of Rossini I'm using a song from La Cenerentola. Songs (C)1940 and (C)1950 Walt Disney Music


Once upon a time in the Mushroom Kingdom, there lived a man named Vincent Toadstool and his daughter, Peach. When his wife died, he got remarried to one Kammy Koopa, who had two daughters of her own, Wendy and Courtney. They were all truly jealous of Peach's inner beauty; so they dressed her in rags and called her Peacharella despite Vincent's protests. If Vincent were a true father to his daughter, he was the only one who loved her in the family, and he would rather smoke cigarettes and watch _Captain Kangaroo_ than hear the insults thrown at poor Peacharella.

In her lonely room Peacharella would sit her mind in an ice cream cone and talk to her friends: six Yoshis – John, Paul, George, Ringo, Yoko, and Linda; her Lakitu, Walt, who always feuded with the pet Spiny, Mephistopheles; and, just outside the window, her horse Kurt, an old and decrepit stallion frequently abused by the stepsisters, particularly Courtney. Very often one could hear Peacharella's sweet voice sing:

"When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires

Will come to you…"

No, what she actually sang – so beautifully, in fact, that Wendy and Courtney sounded like dead crows, as indeed they did anyway – was:

"A dream is a wish your heart makes

When you're fast asleep

In dreams you lose all your heartaches

Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday

Your rainbow will come smiling through

No matter how your heart is grieving

If you keep on believing

The dream that you wish will come true!"

One day, an announcement came that Prince Mario would be holding a ball that evening. After Peacharella got Wendy and Courtney ready, Vincent, a skilled tailor himself, sewed a brand new dress for his daughter. It was turquoise blue and had lovely mushrooms adorning it. "Oh thank you, Father!" cheered Peacharella.

She went upstairs and showed it to the Yoshis and Walt. They all loved it; but Kammy, Wendy, and Courtney did not, and the two stepsisters tore it until it was almost all shreds. Then all of them went to the ball except poor Peacharella, who shed so many tears that quickly rained down her face that she may just as well have drowned in them.

Just then a strange figure appeared. She seemed unknown to Peacharella because her blonde hair, somewhat lighter than Peacharella's own, covered her right eye, and the blue dress was not a color she had seen before. "Who on earth are you?" asked Peacharella.

"I am Rosalina, your Fairy Godmother," replied the figure. "I have come to help prepare you for the ball." And so, as she waved her star-tipped magic wand, she broke into this musical number:

"Salakadula, Menchikabula,

Bippity Boppity Boo!

Put it together and what have you got?

Bippity Boppity Boo!

Salakadula, Menchikabula,

Bippity Boppity Boo!

It'll do magic, believe it or not!

Bippity Boppity Boo!

Now 'Salakadula' means

'A Menchikabula-roo;'

But the thingamabob

That does the job

Is Bippity Boppity Boo, oh!

Salakadula, Menchikabula,

Bippity Boppity Boo!

Put it together and what have you got?

Bippity Boppity, Bippity Boppity, Bippity Boppity Boo!"

And with that, she summoned a large, hollow pumpkin out of the garden and turned it into a fancy ice blue carriage with an ornate pink "P" on it. Then she changed Peacharella's outfit – I believe she was wearing a French maid's uniform instead of the dress sewn by her father – into a fancy pink dress, a pair of long white gloves, a golden crown adorned with various jewels, and a pair of high-heel slippers made out of solid glass. In addition her hair, pretty much plain and flat as she normally wore it, was now in a very fancy updo. Next, she turned Kurt into the cab's driver, looking as if he came from the 1990's **(i.e., Kurt Cobain)** , and Walt into the Footman, a man with a mustache **(i.e., Walt Disney)**. Finally, she turned John **(the green Yoshi)** , Paul **(red)** , George **(blue)** , and Ringo **(yellow)** into four gallant stallions and Yoko **(turquoise)** and Linda **(pink)** into ladies-in-waiting.

"Oh, thank you, Rosalina!" cried Peacharella. "Hold it!" said Rosalina. "On the twelfth and final stroke of midnight, the spell will be broken." "I promise I will be home before then," said Peacharella, a tear of joy trickling down her cheek. "Have a nice time!" shouted Rosalina as the carriage vanished into the night.

At the palace, Prince Mario was bored beyond all reason. Every girl who proposed for his hand in marriage was, in his own eyes, either too boring or too ugly. His younger brother, Prince Luigi, was engaged to Peacharella's best friend, Daisy Narcissus, Princess of Sarasaland. When Peacharella saw the three of them, it was love at first sight for her.

"Peach, is that really you?" asked Daisy.

"I _never_ thought I would see you again," Peacharella said. "My life has been horrible for a long time. When my father remarried, my stepmother and stepsisters dressed me in rags or a maid's uniform."

"But how did you get here in such a fancy outfit?" asked Prince Luigi.

"Can any of you keep a secret?" asked Peacharella.

"I can," answered Daisy, and in her ear, Peacharella whispered, "It turns out that I have a Fairy Godmother, and she changed my outfit from rags to royalty – but not for long."

"Maybe they won't let you see your beauty," said Prince Mario, "but that doesn't mean that it's faded away entirely. Will you marry me?"

Peacharella carefully looked around to see if anybody in her family was watching, and as they fortunately were not present, she said, "Why, yes I will! Let's all get married together!" And so the four danced together – Peacharella with Prince Mario and Daisy with Prince Luigi – until almost midnight.

"Excuse me, your highness," said an elderly British-accented voice to Prince Mario. "I fear that it is 11:57. Have you picked the girl you wish to wed?"

"Why, yes I have, Toadsworth," answered Prince Mario, and he pointed to Peacharella.

"Toadsworth, did you say 11:57 or 12:57?" she asked.

"11:57," Toadsworth repeated. "Oh dear! 'Tis now almost midnight!"

"I'm sorry," Peacharella said to Prince Mario, "but I _must_ go!" And she ran off, dropping the left glass slipper as she fled. She got home just in time to hear the twelfth and final stroke sound, and with that she was back in her maid's uniform, her friends had reverted back to their normal selves, and the carriage was once again a pumpkin. But there was one thing that remained unaltered – the other glass slipper.

Early the next morning, Prince Mario arrived at her house with Prince Luigi and Toadsworth. Prince Mario read a little poem explaining his presence:

"From dusk to dawn,

From town to town,

Without a single clue,

I seek the tender, slender foot

That fits this crystal shoe.

From dusk to dawn,

I try it on

Each damsel that I meet.

And I still love her so, but oh,

I've started hating feet."

Even though Vincent suggested that Peacharella come down, Kammy refused, and she locked her stepdaughter in her room, certain that Wendy or Courtney would marry Prince Mario. Wendy was the first to try it on, but it hardly fit on her foot, and Toadsworth gave up on her.

As Wendy tried on the slipper Vincent snuck the key with which Kammy had locked up Peacharella and handed it to Walt, who in turn gave it to Prince Luigi. In an attempt to keep the door locked, Mephistopheles raced up the stairs and snarled at him; but Prince Luigi was very quick about it. He produced a fireball and hit the Spiny perfectly, knocking him out on his back. Then he kicked him down the stairs and unlocked the door. Amid the dogfight between Prince and Spiny, Courtney tried the slipper on, producing the same vain result as with Wendy.

As Toadsworth was about to give up for good, Mephistopheles hit him in the leg, causing him to trip and send the slipper flying. Luckily, Prince Mario, being quite the athlete, caught it just before it would have landed on the floor and broken. At the same time Prince Luigi led a barefoot Peacharella downstairs, surprising the rest of the people present.

"That's her!" shouted Prince Mario as he handed the slipper back to Toadsworth. "She looks quite different from the girl I saw last night," quipped Toadsworth. "Did my eyes deceive me?"

"Not a bit," Prince Luigi replied to the amazed Toadsworth. "As sure as Czech is Czech and Hebrew is Hebrew, I have brought down the girl that, I do believe, fits the glass slipper." So Toadsworth tried it on Peacharella's foot – and just as the two princes said, it fit.

"I don't believe it!" shouted Kammy. "I'm filing for a divorce!"

"And I only married you because you were rich!" snapped Vincent. "Now I've learned a valuable lesson from this: you never can trust a Koopa!"

But in her grateful joy, Peacharella sang a wonderful song to Prince Mario, her face cloaked in tears:

"Nacqui all'affanno, al pianto.

Soffrì tacendo il core;

Ma per soave incanto,

Dell'età mia nel fiore,

Come un baleno rapido

La sorte mia cangiò."

And so Prince Mario married Peacharella, and Prince Luigi Princess Daisy, in a grand procession held at the palace and departed in a horse-drawn carriage headed by Kurt. Vincent remarried again to a woman who treated her new stepdaughter with great respect. Kammy and her two daughters were never heard of again. And Peacharella and Prince Mario lived happily ever after.


End file.
